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	<title>biondino</title>
	<link>http://blog.flopturnriver.com/biondino.php</link>
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    <item>
      <title><![CDATA[Playing blind]]></title>
      <description><![CDATA[Yesterday morning I decided to play a few hands of blind $5NL 6max. I managed 53 hands without seeing my cards once, and only on two of these hands did I lose a substantial amount (once when check raised on a turn while - inevitably - I was being the aggressor, and once - the final hand, by which time I had decided to double up my $4 or lose it all - when I pushed over a raggy flop into a set), The rest of the time I played lovely, aggressive poker - my stats were 34/34/5 and I picked up a lot of blinds and lot of flops.

As an exercise, it was very useful, though because you're never seeing a showdown, it's hard to see how you're going to be able to make a great deal even if you pwn 90% of the hands you play. What was interesting is that I checked my cards afterwards and I had been running cold as fuck - one AK, one KJ, one 44 and that was it! I'd advise anyone try it - raising and re-raising pre-flop, betting flops, calling cbets then betting turns, etc. You probably won't win but it need only cost you a few bucks and it's great for discipline.

Comments and questions here please: http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/forum/poker-44273.htm
]]></description>
      <link>http://blog.flopturnriver.com/post/biondino/999/Playing-blind</link>
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    <item>
      <title><![CDATA[My operation thread]]></title>
      <description><![CDATA[Since I have now started an operation thread - http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/forum/poker-52833.htm - in which I make daily updates in an attempt to be more accountable as I hopefully move permanently to $100NL, I'll probably be writing less in this here blog. So please visit my operation and leave your thoughts there!]]></description>
      <link>http://blog.flopturnriver.com/post/biondino/997/My-operation-thread</link>
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    <item>
      <title><![CDATA[Small sample size, right?]]></title>
      <description><![CDATA[March not so good:

<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v222/biondino/1-24Marchgraph.jpg" alt="Image" class="bbcode_img" />]]></description>
      <link>http://blog.flopturnriver.com/post/biondino/992/Small-sample-size-right</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title><![CDATA[I can't play ring, though]]></title>
      <description><![CDATA[What a crappy March. About $80 down for the month so far, playing badly, the player base has without doubt got stronger, and I am getting pwned. It's no fun right now.]]></description>
      <link>http://blog.flopturnriver.com/post/biondino/990/I-cant-play-ring-though</link>
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    <item>
      <title><![CDATA[I *can* play MTTs!]]></title>
      <description><![CDATA[Or, technically, SNGs - my first stab at a Stars 180-person $11 and I manage 4th. I was chip leader with 5 left so it's a bit of a shame, but I played pretty well, had my share of luck, and deserved a decent cash. And $144 is my best non-freeroll MTT prize, so forgive me for my moment of rather pathetic triumph <img src="http://blog.flopturnriver.com/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" />]]></description>
      <link>http://blog.flopturnriver.com/post/biondino/981/I-can-play-MTTs</link>
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    <item>
      <title><![CDATA[Premium hands my arse]]></title>
      <description><![CDATA[Last night I was lucky enough to get AA twice and KK twice in the space of 15 minutes.

All four times I lost between half a buyin and a buyin.

Let's say you have J2s on the button at £50NL 6max. It's folded to you and you raise to £2. Fair enough. Then the SB re-raises to £5. Are there any occasions (assuming you don't have a read on villain that he's a total donk who you can beat post-flop with any 2 cards 100% of the time) where calling or 4-betting is a good move?

He thought so. Especially when the flop came J92. Though he was decent enough to let me bet off my whole stack by the river (another 2, just to give me two pair and to rub it in). 

My one plus of the night was beating a certain $200NL+ FTR regular who was slumming it for an evening. I get 88 in the SB, villain is on the button and, with 28/28 stats at this point, a raise is hardly a surprise. So I repop it to £5; he ups it to £13; naturally, I 5-bet to £25. &quot;JJ no good&quot;, he types, before reluctantly folding. Result.]]></description>
      <link>http://blog.flopturnriver.com/post/biondino/978/Premium-hands-my-arse</link>
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    <item>
      <title><![CDATA[An interesting night's play]]></title>
      <description><![CDATA[First of all, let me say that I lost another £61 to my nemesis from the post below. I overplayed TPGK, believing I had a read, and he flipped over a set of aces after I'd pushed over his massive turn bet. Man, I need to calm down and analyse this a bit better - I may have watched him play a session where he hit (and bet) EVERYTHING, but his stats are 31/11/1.8 so he's hardly a maniactard.

-£61 was in fact my end result, and although it sucks (it always sucks that much harder when a losing session follows a losing session), I played better poker than I have done in I don't know how long. The reason is straightforward; I wasn't feeling up to grinding away at £50, so I loaded a single $10NL 6max table with the aim of being as laggy as I possibly could - it's an area of my game that is completely missing and I wanted to practise in gentle surroundings.

So I get going, and all goes well - no enormous pots, backwards and forwards, I am a little bit up after 50 hands and, to my delight, find I'm playing 58/40. The something primal kicks in, and my looseness imperceptibly falls - when I quit after 140 hands I've recorded 38/29/5. Which in itself is fine, but is it really the best I can do?

A positive side effect, however, is to make me play more aggressively in the two £50 games I also have running. Apart from the above disaster, and a big bluff gone wrong, I do pretty well, and manage to record 27/20 stats, well up from my 24/14 long-term figures. And I am winning lots of hands, and LOTS of blinds, while playing good poker.

So perhaps this could give me a new operation which I can detail on FTR - maybe set myself a target of 30/20 over the next 10k hands? I'll give it some though.

Comments, as ever, here please: http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/forum/poker-44273.htm]]></description>
      <link>http://blog.flopturnriver.com/post/biondino/969/An-interesting-nights-play</link>
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    <item>
      <title><![CDATA[Ugh]]></title>
      <description><![CDATA[Just a quick whiny post - if you hate moaning, look away now.

Last night was possibly my worst night ever (well, with bonus and rb it probably wasn't) in terms of cash lost. I was 4-tabling £50NL 6max and playing pretty well, but things weren't going my way:

- I managed to lose a stack with KK, bet-sizing beautifully on a Q-high board so I was all in with a 3/4 psb on the river, only to have the guy to my left, who had been happily letting me bet, snaffle it from me with AA. He had min-re-raised with position pre-flop, so I guess I could have slowed down. But I didn't, so meh.

- I'm usually more pragmatic about split pots, but this one sucked so badly, and came so soon after the above stacking, that I got very upset. I check in the BB with 78o; flop is 45T. I am checked to, so decide to c-bet, and am called by the SB. Ah well, no biggie. The turn, however, is a 6, and after multiple raises, to my delight, we're both all in - a lovely sexy 250bb pot and me with the nuts as he turns over 73.

The river, of course, is an 8. Three-outed for a loss of $120.

A couple of other poor hands and I was down just over 3 buyins. I then start getting it together - some decent cards and a determined attempt to wrest control of the tables won me two of them back. It was getting late, and when my best table was down to HU, I thought I'd hit the sack. But then I realise that the guy next to me was a lagg who'd shown down a few dodgy hands and I wondered if my superior skillz might help me get back to even.

The answer = an emphatic no. This guy was the most aggressive HU player I've ever come across, so I was obliged to call raises and make raises of my won I wouldn't usually do. I was doing okay, but he was hitting every single time - the two occasions when I rightly called him down with 3rd or 4th pair, he'd hit on the river. 

So I am down almost a buyin in about 5 minutes, when I notice we're HU in a hand on another table. I have 33, so I'm delighted to see a 3T ..]]></description>
      <link>http://blog.flopturnriver.com/post/biondino/965/Ugh</link>
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    <item>
      <title><![CDATA[The perfect poker hand?]]></title>
      <description><![CDATA[Actually, no - the turn would have been different - but still:

Seat 1: Enslah ($54.85 in chips)
Seat 2: SRSLY ($51.87 in chips)
Seat 3: Beziio ($43 in chips)
Seat 4: megleren ($51.20 in chips)
Seat 5: pokerphia ($48.75 in chips)
Seat 6: hother ($60.23 in chips)
megleren: posts small blind $0.25
pokerphia: posts big blind $0.50
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to SRSLY [7c 8c]
hother: folds
Enslah: folds
SRSLY: raises to $1.50
Beziio: calls $1.50
megleren: folds
pokerphia: raises to $5.50
SRSLY: calls $4 (I took this to the final second before calling)
Beziio: calls $4
----- FLOP ----- [Th 9c 6d]
pokerphia: bets $12
SRSLY: calls $12
Beziio: folds
----- TURN ----- [Th 9c 6d][Ts]
pokerphia: bets $24
SRSLY: raises to $34.37 and is all-in
pokerphia: is all-in $7.25
Returned uncalled bets $3.12 to SRSLY
----- RIVER ----- [Th 9c 6d Ts][Ah]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
SRSLY: shows [7c 8c] (A Straight, Ten high)
pokerphia: shows [Kc Ks] (Two Pairs, Kings and Tens, Ace high)
SRSLY collected $100.25 from Main pot
]]></description>
      <link>http://blog.flopturnriver.com/post/biondino/958/The-perfect-poker-hand</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title><![CDATA[Tilty Tilt McTilterson]]></title>
      <description><![CDATA[So, I don't tilt much these days, and when I do, I can usually recognise it quickly and minimise the damage.

Not so last night.

The evening started badly - me and the gf were in bickery mood and I was a bit annoyed. I'd been looking forward to playing poker, and hopefully regaining the £50 or so I was down for the weekend with a good 2-3 hours session at the £50NL 6max tables at Crypto. Unfortunately, there were major disconnection issues on Pokerplex, and although I don't think I lost more than a few blinds as a result, it just got me more annoyed. The the following hand happened:

I raise in MP with KQo and the BB calls. Flop is xJT rainbow. He donk bets maybe 2/3 the pot, I call. Turn is a rag, he bets out again (and again I am not getting pot odds, but I have overs and the nut OESD) so I call again. River is a King; he then pushes, 80+bbs, AND I CALL. Wtf. He shows down JT and I lose all but a couple of quid. With TPGK.

Anyway, Crypto is showing no sign of stabilising, so I decide to quit and play some 6max $25NL at Stars to let my aggression out on some weak passive fishies. And it all goes great for a while - I quickly find myself up almost 3 buyins, playing a more fun aggro game (about 29/21 rather than 24/14) and enjoying myself. But then... 

There is another big stack on the table where I am sitting pretty on $75. He's okay - 40/10, plays competently post-flop, but not exactly a shark. I get the chance to take a good pot off him - and his second pair make 2 pair on the river and knocks $20 off my stack (I had TPTK and was, correctly, absolutely certain I was ahead until then). From then on, I am riled, and despite getting good cards pre- and post-flop, I donk off hand after hand to this guy who, every time, has the hand one step up the ladder to what I'm holding. This isn't too bad; but I am calling re-raises and playing over-aggro because I still haven't calmed down.

Eventually, I see my last $31 disappear to this guy when my two pair lo ..]]></description>
      <link>http://blog.flopturnriver.com/post/biondino/946/Tilty-Tilt-McTilterson</link>
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